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John Constantine
John Constantine is an occult warlock originating from Liverpool, England. He travels the world investigating supernatural occurrences and defending humanity from them. His main base of operations is the House Of Mystery where he resides with the magic of the house's physical form Black Orchid. He also uses it to store mystical artifacts which are considered to dangerous in regular people's hands. Biography Early life When John Constantine was born his mother died during childbirth, something his father never let him forget. Growing up because of his fathers abuse and attitude towards him gave John a very prickly and cynical outlook towards life. John's best and only friend growing up was Chas Chandler. As they grew older, they started a band together, the Mucus Membrane. John eventually became and expert in the Occult with Ritchie Simpson. At some point, John and Chas were involved in an incident in Newcastle where his actions resulted in tragedy. After discovering Alex Logue, one of John's mentors, was using his daughter Astra as a focal point for his dark magic, John made a grave mistake. Wanting to save the child, John summoned a demon named Nergal to fight Logue. Unfortunately John forgot to cast a binding spell on the demon and his plan backfired. The demon slaughtered Logue, his followers and his guests but he also took astra and cast her into hell for all eternity. Following the aftermath of the Newcastle disaster, John had himself committed to a mental hospital, having suffered a nervous breakdown. Not long after, he and Chas went their separate ways. Later he trained Zatanna in magic and apparently introduced her to his friend Ritchie Simpson. The pair eventually became romantically involved, living and traveling together in the House of Mystery. At one point they went to Somalia where Zatanna insisted they rescue some monkeys; the details of the event aren't discussed, but the pair's conversation implies it didn't go well. The relationship, however, ended poorly, as Zatanna felt unsuited to the danger and moral complexity of John's world. Likewise, Constantine had a falling out with Ritchie. It is not known what the cause was, but the pair stopped speaking. John didn't even know Ritchie was dying until he asked for the other man's help with the Justice League Dark's investigation. At one point, Constantine met and became an enemy of Felix Faust. Justice League Dark While in Las Vegas he played poker with Jason Blood and The Demons Three. He was losing badly and could not raise the bet bet so he wagered his home, the House of Mystery, against a collection of mystic treasures including a Dreamstone. Both John and the Demons cheated, though Constantine won. In the ensuing battle, Constantine forced Jason to transform into Etrigan to defeat the Demons. Blood was displeased when he was restored to normal, lecturing Constantine and punching him because of the magician's lack of concern or empathy for not wanting to turn into Etrigan. Constantine later collected the chest of the treasures and summoned the House of Mystery, entering it and disappearing, leaving Jason Blood angry. Magical threat When Zatanna brings Batman to Constantine, they were attacked by a magical whirlwind summoned by an unknown sorcerer. The trio narrowly manages to get inside John's house in time where they are joined by Black Orchid, the spiritual embodiment of the House. The group gathers to share information, and after a quick discussion and some argument between John and Zatanna, form a team to investigate the cause and reason for these supernatural occurrences. The heroes visit a friend of Constantine and Zatanna's named Ritchie Simpson, but outside the house, they find shroud spirits of Death waiting to collect Ritchie's soul upon his upcoming demise. The team is granted entry by Simpson, who is suffering from magical cancer and resentful of Constantine for abandoning him to his fate but loans them the Keshanti Key. Constantine and Zatanna look through one of the unwitting rampager's memories for the cause of his frenzy and discover that he was possessed by an unknown entity wearing a strange ring. Batman, Deadman, Constantine, and Zatanna narrowly manage to escape from a living feces beast conjured to consume the man, and Zatanna proceeds to destroy the monster. Returning to Ritchie's home to identify the ring from the man's memory, the team finds him about to die, with Blood nearby. Batman revives Ritchie with an adrenaline shot to the chest, but he quickly falls into a coma. After being brought to the House of Mystery for interrogation, Blood tells the team that he did not attempt to hurt Ritchie, but was looking for a way into the House of Mystery to find the Dreamstone. He reveals his past and Destiny. The group locates Faust's observatory with help from Swamp Thing. When they infiltrate Faust's lair, the wizard battles the team but is ultimately defeated by Zatanna. During the battle with Destiny, Constantine summons Swamp Thing and tricks him to fight Destiny while Batman and the recovered Zatanna disable the Justice League. However, Destiny defeats Swamp Thing by ripping Alec Holland's remains from his body. Constantine tricks Destiny into bringing him and Deadman within his protective shield, allowing Deadman to wound Destiny, before Constantine, Batman, and Blood destroy the Dreamstone and Destiny's body, leaving Ritchie, whose soul is dragged to Hell by the shroud spirits. Zatanna, Constantine, and Etrigan bury Blood's body near the place of his old village before Etrigan leaves for parts unknown. Zatanna offers Constantine a position in Justice League when she joined it. Constantine initially declines to claim Batman wouldn't approve of him, but Zatanna claims it was his idea. The two return to the now-rebuilt House of Mystery, taking a first tentative step to restoring their fractured relationship. Constantine: City of Demons After drifting apart for nine years, John reunited with Chas Chandler when the latter approached him requesting help. Chas's daughter Trish was in a coma as a result of dark magic. John reluctantly agreed to help, but warned that he did not expect a happy ending. After meeting Trish's mother Renee at the hospital, John was allowed to be left alone with the comatose girl. John tried to use magic to find the problem only to see Trish's body get briefly inhabited by a demon. John then summoned Asa, the Nightmare Nurse to help him. Asa was annoyed by the summons, but agreed to help. She told John that Trish's body no longer had a soul before becoming briefly possessed by the same demon that stole Trish's soul. Wishing to confront John, the Demon revealed he was in Los Angeles. The Nightmare Nurse agreed to stay with Trish, while John and Chas took a plane to California. After arriving in LA, John began noticing a glowing light coming out of the eyes of the locals. The two arrived at the address they were given back at the hospital where they were greeted by the manor's butler, a mansized, talking pig. After entering the house, Constantine found a swimming pool full of liquefying corpses and met Beroul, the demon that took Trish. It was then revealed that Beroul's goal in taking Trish was to get John's attention. Beroul then showed John a party he and other demons were throwing in the other room. Human guests were being tormented, slaughtered and sent to hell. Beroul revealed his goal was to expand hell to Los Angeles, claiming the power hungry egotistical selfish souls of the residents are just who demons look to torment when in hell. There were 5 other demons with similar plans, but Beroul wanted his new “franchise” to himself. Beroul agreed to return Trish’s soul if John kills his competitors. Sometime later John and Chas were attacked on the road by deomonic dogs sent by Beroul's competitors. The two survived after being rescued by Angela, the queen of Angels. After getting back to Beroul, Constantine was permited to visit Trish's soul, trapped in Beroul's body. After being dispelled out of the Demon's body, it was then revealed that Beroul was in fact Nergal, John's archenemy. John then once again approached by Angela in a LA bar. After leading him to a bathroom stall, the two have sex, during which she gave John a vision of the history of the city. Angela wanted John to help her stop the demons plan to set up hell franchises in LA. John was able to take down Nergal's demon allies after enlisting the help of Mictlantecuhtli, an ancient aztec death god. After the demons were dead, Constantine dispatched Mictlantecuhtli himself. Unfortunately Nergal did not hold up his side of the bargain. It is then revealed that Angela and Nergal were reluctantly working together. In a last ditch effort to save the child, John and Asa cast a spell known as the candever curse to free Trish from Nergal, drawing power from Chas's love for his family and Trish and Renee's love for him, which fatally wounds Nergal. Nergal, realizing he's lost, tried to offer releasing Astra's soul from hell in exchange for his life. John refuses Nergal's offer stating that saving Trish was redemption enough, and with it, Nergal was destroyed. Some time after facing Nergal, John explains the price of the candever curse: as a tragic consequence of Constantine and Asa's spell Chas lost all memory of his family and they lost all memory of him. John then revealed that the Chandler's family love wasn't enough to fuel the candever curse, and he had to sacrifice his and Chas's friendship as well. Chas then lost memory of John, besides a vague memory of the man who ruined his life. John however retained his memory of Chas. Angela then visited John, wishing him well and John asking Angela to take care of Chas. As he exits, he sees one of his demons survived the battle against Nergal and allowed the demon to join him as he walks alone. Personality Constantine is not considered a superhero in the traditional sense and seems to hold a dim view of "the capes and tights crew," at least in regards to their ability to handle magical situations. However, Constantine seems to have a lower success rate than the League, as Zatanna claims he is guilty of "a hundred . . . screw-ups. Costing lives and souls." Despite being firmly on the side of good, Constantine is often blunt and disrespectful even when his life is in danger. He often employs risky strategies and is perfectly willing to manipulate his friends to achieve his goals and is flippant when called upon to defend his actions. Because of this, he frequently ruins his own relationships, as seen with Jason Blood, Zatanna and Chas Chandler. He is capable of loyalty and comradely, such as when he talked Zatanna out of killing Felix Faust and arranged Jason Blood to be buried in the place the knight's home village once stood, he even goes as far as sacrificing his friendship with Chas to save Chas' daughter. However, he will still sacrifice his friends without hesitation especially if he feels wronged by them, as he allowed Ritchie's soul to be taken to Hell despite his obvious remorse. Zatanna implied that Constantine is something of a womanizer. Constantine despises having to "play telephone" with spirits and people who can't see them at which point he uses his magic to solve the issue. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Magic:' Constantine is a talented magician, capable of casting a wide variety of spells for the purposes of attack, defense, surveillance, or transportation. However, his magical powers seem inferior to those of other magic-users, such as Felix Faust and Zatanna. **'Spell Casting:' Constantine can hurl fireballs, levitate, exorcise spiritual entities, undo illusions, restrain others, view events happening far away, even compel others to do his bidding. He occasionally supplements his own abilities with magical artifacts. Many of his spells involve fire. *'Clairvoyance:' Constantine can perceive spirits invisible to the human eye. *'Immunity to Forced Insanity:' When facing off with Destiny, Constantine remained unaffected by his magic, which drove even Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman mad with visions of demons. *'Resistance to Possession:' When allowing Deadman to possess him in a Trojan Horse play to kill Destiny, Constantine was able to retain control of his body. Abilities *'Mystical Knowledge': Constantine possesses advanced knowledge of the nature and workings of supernatural forces and artifacts. *'Master Manipulator': Even without magic, Constantine is very good at getting his allies and enemies to do as he wishes. For enemies, he prefers to tick them off so they make mistakes, leaving him able to make cold-headed choices. When conversing with allies, he tends to play on their consciences by reminding them of what's at stake, in order to get their help. *'Leadership': Despite his claims otherwise, Constantine is a gifted leader and strategist. Appearances Films *''Justice League Dark'' *Constantine: City of Demons *Justice League DARK: Apokolips War Web series *''Constantine: City of Demons'' **"Episode One" **"Episode Two" **"Episode Three" **"Episode Four" **"Episode Five" Trivia *He's implied to have his life/soul sought after by many he's wronged/ticked off. *According to Jay Oliva, though Constantine possesses an affinity for magic, he requires a medium to cast spells; because of such, John's magic is neither good nor evil. *Throughout Justice League Dark, Constantine is shown using various objects to cast spells. *It seems Constantine either lost possession of the House of Mystery, or he got kicked out of it because Black Orchid preferred Zatanna as the House's owner, as he is seen waking up in a normal apartment in City of Demons. However this is all speculation at this point. * Constantine references Marvel Cinematic Universe's Doctor Strange when exclaiming "Who do you think I am? Benedict bloody Cumberbatch?" in City of of Demons. __FORCETOC__ Category:Superheroes Category:Justice League members Category:Humans Category:Justice League Dark Characters Category:Males Category:Constantine: City of Demons Characters Category:Justice League Dark Members